Contrite no more, Filner digs in for an ugly fight

Any hopes for a quick resolution to Mayor Bob Filner’s sexual harassment scandal are now history. On Monday, an increasingly combative Filner made it plain he isn’t going anywhere. He did so even as three prominent former supporters offered much more detailed accounts of his alleged sexually predatory behavior.

Early Monday, the veteran Democratic made a savvy move. He installed well-regarded former county Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard as the city’s interim chief operating officer, a post Ekard only accepted after demanding and getting sweeping authority over City Hall. This will undercut the argument that the mayor’s scandals will mean he can’t govern because he can’t bring in people to do tough and important jobs. Scandal or no scandal, Ekard is sure to bring a much smarter and steadier hand to City Hall governance than the menacing, micromanaging Filner.

Then, later Monday, in a commentary provided to the U-T, the mayor made a much less savvy move — at least if you care about San Diego. Just days after striking a contrite tone and saying he needed “help” for his problems dealing with women, Filner now depicts sexual harassment claims as resulting from his high standards. “[W]hen people I’m counting on don’t perform, I get upset. I now recognize that approach has been seen by some as disrespectful,” he wrote. Yet none of the appalling incidents described by former Councilwoman Donna Frye or local attorneys Marco Gonzalez or Cory Briggs reflect that scenario at all. Instead, they involve the mayor pressuring women for dates, groping them and making disgusting remarks — even after they made clear they were uninterested. When Filner says he was mad because they didn’t “perform,” he may be unintentionally telling the truth.

But the most depressing development Monday was the mayor’s telegraphing of his intent to tear down his accusers if they come forward and speak on the record — the loathsome tactic that prominent sexual predators have used for years.

In his commentary, Filner likened his critics to a “lynch mob” — a historically freighted comparison of those who believe he should quit because he has disgraced his office to the vigilante murderers who used to enforce racist norms in the Deep South.

Given that Filner’s finest moments came in the early 1960s as a “Freedom Rider” fighting segregation in the South, he could not have used “lynch mob” lightly. In so doing, the mayor illustrated just how far he’s fallen since his days a half-century ago fighting for what’s right.

How much more shameless can Bob Filner get? In coming weeks, we fear we’re going to find out.